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About this blog: I've been attracted to food for good and bad reasons for many years. From eating disorder to east coast culinary school, food has been my passion, profession & nemesis. I've been a sugar addict, a 17-year vegetarian, a food and en... (More)

About this blog: I've been attracted to food for good and bad reasons for many years. From eating disorder to east coast culinary school, food has been my passion, profession & nemesis. I've been a sugar addict, a 17-year vegetarian, a food and environment pioneer, macrobiotic, Master Cleanser, ayurvedic, and officially-designated health-nut or party-girl (depending on the year). Professionally, I've worn many industry hats including: line cook, corporate chef, Food Coach, caterer, product developer, restaurant reviewer, culinary school teacher, corporate wellness educator, food co-op clerk, author, and even Cirque-du-Soleil lead popcorn concessioner! For years I managed an outdoor kitchen, deep in the bear-infested woods of Tahoe, and also for hospitals (the most unhealthy kitchen I ever worked in?), Singapore high-rises, mule-pack trips, Canadian catholic rectories, and more events than I could ever recall. Yet I still keep discovering. Actually, I adapt everyday by new lessons learned from teachers, customers and students. However there is one food truth I now hold sacrosanct: Eaters are motivated by pleasure. So no matter what we discuss here - recipes or restaurants, food politics or pairings, local events, food as art, or even as God, I will always come from a high-vibe, party perspective. Oh I do still long to change the world with great tasting food, but know in my heart, "If it ain't fun, it don't get done!" So - wanna come to the Food Party? By the way - it's a potluck. (Hide)

How to Meet Smarty-Pants Guys in Mountain View

Uploaded: Feb 27, 2014

If you like the techie type, I've figured out a full proof way to meet em.'

In honor of my first view of Tampopo, a terrific 1985 movie about noodles, love and food, I searched out Maru Ichi, a Japanese noodle house on Castro in Mountain View. Maru Ichi makes around 200# of ramen (all wheat) and soba (wheat and buckwheat) noodles EVERY DAY in their small noodle room in the front of the restaurant. The prices are great, the food yummy, the kimchi (though confusingly not Japanese) rocked it! Maru Ichi has been open 10 years. I don't know what took me so long to get here.

Now, if you read Eat Out. Alone. In Public? NEVER! you may recall I often read when eating alone. So while enjoying a delicious Vege Ramen ($7.98) and thinking about that hilarious scene in Tampopo where the prissy Asian teacher instructs ladies how to properly slurp up noodles, I intently engaged in "The Hungry Scientist Handbook."

"Is that a good book?" I look up to two guys smiling at the table next to me.

"I just started so not sure," I respond, "but the entry on making edible caramel underwear caught my attention, that's for certain."

"Why are you reading it?"

"Well, I do corporate wellness programs, cooking classes, pairings, Discovery Bars… Now I am looking to pair with a scientist on cooking and science events."

Boy did that statement get those guys going about how they are scientists, and their inventions, and what else is in the book…They just kept blabbing on while my noodles got cold. Not sure if they wanted to work for me, pick me up, or rip off my idea. Anyways, they finally left and I went back to the noodles. A few minutes later coming from the other side…

"That seems like an interesting book. Can I look at it?"

Geez!

Summary: How to Meet Smarty-Pants Guys in Mountain View?

Go to the Mountain View library, check out The Hungry Scientist Handbook, or Alton Browns' Good Eats. Hold high while lunching at one of the great cheap, ethnic Mountain View eateries. Here are a couple of my favorites, for the food, and I guess now - the men!

Posted by geeky family,
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood,
on Mar 1, 2014 at 3:31 pm

Have you tested this with other books? Maybe this was just because you are female and had your eyes averted long enough for said smarty-pants guys to feel comfortable saying something, while also giving them something to say?

Posted by One of Many,
a resident of Blossom Valley,
on Mar 2, 2014 at 7:22 am

Hey, this is Silicon Valley. I used to be a single 30 something guy here. With the horrific ratio of eligible females to males in this area, guys are always on the lookout for some way to meet/talk to women.
A single woman whipping out a science based casual read in Silicon Valley? Fo'get aboutit! You were a peanut butter covered marshmallow in bear country. I'm surprised nobody proposed!

Posted by Hmmm,
a resident of another community,
on Mar 2, 2014 at 8:40 pm

Love Chaat Paradise! My husband and I frequently notice a *lot* of single male diners there.

Years ago, while waiting for traffic court to start, I opened a bio of Albert Einstein. The comment I got: "If he was so smart, he should've changed his first name to something less dorky. He'd have gotten more ladies that way." I am not kidding. Sigh.

Posted by geeky family,
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood,
on Mar 3, 2014 at 9:52 pm

Looks like the sweeps ended February 28, but you can still get tix to the Party with Alton Brown event May 16-18 at the Monterey Aquarium, I think. The Aquarium has a Facebook page - unfortunately, I don't. I'm a geek, but a very private one....

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